One person died after a U.S. Aircraft crashed just off the coast of Japan, the Japanese Coast Guard confirmed.
Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) confirmed in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that an aircraft, identified as a U.S. military CV-22B Osprey “may have crashed” in the ocean near the island of Yakushima.
Six people were reported to have been onboard the aircraft at the time of its crash around 2:47 p.m., a spokesperson from the Japanese Coast Guard said, according to CNN.
“We received a report that an Osprey belonging to the U.S. military may have crashed on the ocean near Yakushima, and aircraft from the Ground, Maritime, and Air Self-Defense Forces conduct a search operation,” the MoD wrote. “Rescue operations begin.”
US military Osprey aircraft with 6 aboard crashes off southern Japan, at least 1 dead https://t.co/xLcBuDyQNZ
— POLITICO (@politico) November 29, 2023
The spokesperson from the Coast Guard added that a patrol boat and aircraft had been dispatched out to the scene of the incident by the 10th Regional Coast Guard.
Upon arriving at the scene of the incident, the Japanese Coast Guard discovered a man who was “unconscious and was not breathing.” The unconscious man was given CPR and taken to Anbo Port where he was later pronounced dead, the Coast Guard told NBC News.
Hiroyuki Miyazawa, the vice defense minister of Japan, explained to reporters that the U.S. military had informed them that “the pilot did his best until the very end,” and due to that, they were labeling it as an “emergency water landing.”
In the aftermath of the Osprey aircraft crash, Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki requested the U.S. military on the island ground other aircraft.
“Given the concerns over the danger of Ospreys, as such unexpected incident became a reality, the only thing I can say is I regret it very much,” Tamaki said during a press conference.
The incident with the Osprey aircraft comes after three U.S. Marines were killed after their Osprey MV-22B crashed during a training exercise in Australia in August.
In March 2022, a training exercise in Norway involving an Osprey MV-22B left four U.S. Marines dead.
